Measuring Local Tissue Strains in Tendons via Open-Source Digital Image Correlation.

There is considerable scientific interest in understanding the strains that tendon cells experience in situ and how these strains influence tissue remodeling. Based on this interest, several analytical techniques have been developed to measure local tissue strains within tendon explants during loading. However, in several cases, the accuracy and sensitivity of these techniques have not been reported, and none of the algorithms are publicly available. This has made it difficult for the more widespread measurement of local tissue strains in tendon explants. Therefore, the objective of this paper was to create a validated analysis tool for measuring local tissue strains in tendon explants that is readily available and easy to use. Specifically, a publicly available augmented-Lagrangian digital image correlation (ALDIC) algorithm was adapted for measuring 2D strains by tracking the displacements of cell nuclei within mouse Achilles tendons under uniaxial tension. Additionally, the accuracy of the calculated strains was validated by analyzing digitally transformed images, as well as by comparing the strains with values determined from an independent technique (i.e., photobleached lines). Finally, a technique was incorporated into the algorithm to reconstruct the reference image using the calculated displacement field, which can be used to assess the accuracy of the algorithm in the absence of known strain values or a secondary measurement technique. The algorithm is capable of measuring strains up to 0.1 with an accuracy of 0.00015. The technique for comparing a reconstructed reference image with the actual reference image successfully identified samples that had erroneous data and indicated that, in samples with good data, approximately 85% of the displacement field was accurate. Finally, the strains measured in mouse Achilles tendons were consistent with the prior literature. Therefore, this algorithm is a highly useful and adaptable tool for accurately measuring local tissue strains in tendons.

Morphological changes in glial cells arrangement under mechanical loading: A quantitative study.

The mechanical properties and microstructure of brain tissue, as its two main physical parameters, could be affected by mechanical stimuli. In previous studies, microstructural alterations due to mechanical loading have received less attention than the mechanical properties of the tissue. Therefore, the current study aimed to investigate the effect of ex-vivo mechanical forces on the micro-architecture of brain tissue including axons and glial cells. A three-step loading protocol (i.e., loading-recovery-loading) including eight strain levels from 5% to 40% was applied to bovine brain samples with axons aligned in one preferred direction (each sample experienced only one level of strain). After either the first or secondary loading step, the samples were fixed, cut in planes parallel and perpendicular to the loading direction, and stained for histology. The histological images were analyzed to measure the end-to-end length of axons and glial cell-cell distances. The results showed that after both loading steps, as the strain increased, the changes in the cell nuclei arrangement in the direction parallel to axons were more significant compared to the other two perpendicular directions. Based on this evidence, we hypothesized that the spatial pattern of glial cells is highly affected by the orientation of axonal fibers. Moreover, the results revealed that in both loading steps, the maximum cell-cell distance occurred at 15% strain, and this distance decreased for higher strains. Since 15% strain is close to the previously reported brain injury threshold, this evidence could suggest that at higher strains, the axons start to rupture, causing a reduction in the displacement of glial cells. Accordingly, it was concluded that more attention to glial cells' architecture during mechanical loading may lead to introduce a new biomarker for brain injury.

Effects of lumbar spinal disorders on the vertical ground reaction force and Spatio-temporal parameters in gait.

BACKGROUND: Ground reaction forces are biomechanical data, providing information to investigate pathological gait. The vertical component of ground reaction force introduces the upward thrust force within gait progression. Although alterations in the vertical component in patients with spinal disorders were addressed in the literature, still the corresponding effect on spinal disorders is a major issue to scrutiny. In this study, the effects of two different anatomical spinal disorders on the vertical component pattern were investigated. METHODS: Two groups of patients with lumbar spine stenosis and lumbar intervertebral disc degeneration with lesions at L4-L5 and/or L5-S1 levels, were recruited. The vertical component of ground reaction force and spatio-temporal parameters were obtained and analyzed using one-way analysis of variance. FINDINGS: The results indicated that all spatio-temporal parameters differed significantly (P < 0.05) except step lengths and stride times (P > 0.05). In a similar test, the Fz2 in patients with lumbar stenosis was higher than that of those with disc degeneration (P < 0.05). Besides, the vertical ground reaction force pattern showed lower slopes in stenosis patients. INTERPRETATION: This study showed that the vertical component of ground reaction force alterations and spatio-temporal parameters could be employed as indicators for certain spinal lesions. The results of this study could implement as an adjunct diagnostic method to help clinicians to differentiate between stenosis and disc degeneration patients and plan for their rehabilitation purposes.

Structural Anisotropy vs. Mechanical Anisotropy: The Contribution of Axonal Fibers to the Material Properties of Brain White Matter.

Brain's micro-structure plays a critical role in its macro-structure material properties. Since the structural anisotropy in the brain white matter has been introduced due to axonal fibers, considering the direction of axons in the continuum models has been mediated to improve the results of computational simulations. The aim of the current study was to investigate the role of fiber direction in the material properties of brain white matter and compare the mechanical behavior of the anisotropic white matter and the isotropic gray matter. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) was employed to detect the direction of axons in white matter samples, and tensile stress-relaxation loads up to 20% strains were applied on bovine gray and white matter samples. In order to calculate the nonlinear and time-dependent properties of white matter and gray matter, a visco-hyperelastic model was used. The results indicated that the mechanical behavior of white matter in two orthogonal directions, parallel and perpendicular to axonal fibers, are significantly different. This difference indicates that brain white matter could be assumed as an anisotropic material and axons have contribution in the mechanical properties. Also, up to 15% strain, white matter samples with axons parallel to the force direction are significantly stiffer than both the gray matter samples and white matter samples with axons perpendicular to the force direction. Moreover, the elastic moduli of white matter samples with axons both parallel and perpendicular to the loading direction and gray matter samples at 15-20% strain are not significantly different. According to these observations, it is suggested that axons have negligible roles in the material properties of white matter when it is loaded in the direction perpendicular to the axon direction. Finally, this observation showed that the anisotropy of brain tissue not only has effects on the elastic behavior, but also has effects on the viscoelastic behavior.

Tension Strain-Softening and Compression Strain-Stiffening Behavior of Brain White Matter.

Brain, the most important component of the central nervous system (CNS), is a soft tissue with a complex structure. Understanding the role of brain tissue microstructure in mechanical properties is essential to have a more profound knowledge of how brain development, disease, and injury occur. While many studies have investigated the mechanical behavior of brain tissue under various loading conditions, there has not been a clear explanation for variation reported for material properties of brain tissue. The current study compares the ex-vivo mechanical properties of brain tissue under two loading modes, namely compression and tension, and aims to explain the differences observed by closely examining the microstructure under loading. We tested bovine brain samples under uniaxial tension and compression loading conditions, and fitted hyperelastic material parameters. At 20% strain, we observed that the shear modulus of brain tissue in compression is about 6 times higher than in tension. In addition, we observed that brain tissue exhibited strain-stiffening in compression and strain-softening in tension. In order to investigate the effect of loading modes on the tissue microstructure, we fixed the samples using a novel method that enabled keeping the samples at the loaded stage during the fixation process. Based on the results of histology, we hypothesize that during compressive loading, the strain-stiffening behavior of the tissue could be attributed to glial cell bodies being pushed against surroundings, contacting each other and resisting compression, while during tension, cell connections are detached and the tissue displays softening behavior.

Mind the gap: A mechanobiological hypothesis for the role of gap junctions in the mechanical properties of injured brain tissue.

Despite more than half a century of work on the brain biomechanics, there are still significant unknowns about this tissue. Since the brain is highly susceptible to injury, damage biomechanics has been one of the main areas of interest to the researchers in the field of brain biomechanics. In many previous studies, mechanical properties of brain tissue under sub-injury and injury level loading conditions have been addressed; however, to the best of our knowledge, the role of cell-cell interactions in the mechanical behavior of brain tissue has not been well examined yet. This note introduces the hypothesis that gap junctions as the major type of cell-cell junctions in the brain tissue play a pivotal role in the mechanical properties of the tissue and their failure during injury leads to changes in brain's material properties. According to this hypothesis, during an injury, the gap junctions are damaged, leading to a decrease in tissue stiffness, whereas following the injury, new junction proteins are expressed, leading to an increase in tissue stiffness. We suggest that considering the mechanobiological effect of gap junctions in the material properties of brain tissue may help better understand the brain injury mechanism.

The importance of axonal directions in the brainstem injury during neurosurgical interventions.

Brainstem, which connects the distal part of the brain and the spinal cord, contains main motor and sensory nerves and facilitates communication between the cerebrum, cerebellum, and spinal cord. Due to the complicated anatomy and neurostructure of brainstem, surgical interventions to resect brainstem tumors are particularly challenging, and new approaches to reduce the risk of surgical brain injury are of utmost importance. Although previous studies have investigated the structural anisotropy of brain white matter, the effect of axonal fibers on the mechanical properties of white matter has not yet been fully understood. The current study aims to compare the effect of axonal orientation on changes in material properties of brainstem under large deformations and failure through a novel approach. Using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) on ex-vivo bovine brains, we determined the orientation of axons in brainstem. We extracted brainstem samples in two orthogonal directions, parallel and perpendicular to the axons, and subjected to uniaxial tension to reach the failure at loading rates of 50 mm/min and 150 mm/min. The results showed that the tearing energy and failure strain of samples with axons parallel to the force direction were approximately 1.5 times higher than the samples with axons perpendicular to the force direction. The results also revealed that as the sample's initial length increases, its failure strain decreases. These results emphasize the importance of the axon orientation in the mechanical properties of brainstem, and suggest that considering the directional-dependent behavior for this tissue could help to propose new surgical interventions for reducing the risk of injury during tumor resection.

The effect of large deformation on Poisson's ratio of brain white matter: An experimental study.

A more Accurate description of the mechanical behavior of brain tissue could improve the results of computational models. While most studies have assumed brain tissue as an incompressible material with constant Poisson's ratio of almost 0.5 and constructed their modeling approach according to this assumption, the relationship between this ratio and levels of applied strains has not yet been studied. Since the mechanical response of the tissue is highly sensitive to the value of Poisson's ratio, this study was designed to investigate the characteristics of the Poisson's ratio of brain tissue at different levels of applied strains. Samples were extracted from bovine brain tissue and tested under unconfined compression at strain values of 5%, 10%, and 30%. Using an image processing method, the axial and transverse strains were measured over a 60-s period to calculate the Poisson's ratio for each sample. The results of this study showed that the Poisson's ratio of brain tissue at strain levels of 5% and 10% was close to 0.5, and assuming brain tissue as an incompressible material is a valid assumption at these levels of strain. For samples under 30% compression, this ratio was higher than 0.5, which could suggest that under strains higher than the brain injury threshold (approximately 18%), tissue integrity was impaired. Based on these observations, it could be concluded that for strain levels higher than the injury threshold, brain tissue could not be assumed as an incompressible material, and new material models need to be proposed to predict the material behavior of the tissue. In addition, the results showed that brain tissue under unconfined compression uniformly stretched in the transverse direction, and the bulging in the samples is negligible.

A knowledge map analysis of brain biomechanics: Current evidence and future directions.

Although brain, one of the most complex organs in the mammalian body, has been subjected to many studies from physiological and pathological points of view, there remain significant gaps in the available knowledge regarding its biomechanics. This article reviews the research trends in brain biomechanics with a focus on injury. We used published scientific articles indexed by Web of Science database over the past 40 years and tried to address the gaps that still exist in this field. We analyzed the data using VOSviewer, which is a software tool designed for scientometric studies. The results of this study showed that the response of brain tissue to external forces has been one of the significant research topics among biomechanicians. These studies have addressed the effects of mechanical forces on the brain and mechanisms of traumatic brain injury, as well as characterized changes in tissue behavior under trauma and other neurological diseases to provide new diagnostic and monitoring methods. In this study, some challenges in the field of brain injury biomechanics have been identified and new directions toward understanding the gaps in this field are suggested.